The news is filled with stories about hackers cracking passwords. You can help avoid being a victim by never, ever using these passwords:

Password. Believe it or not, this is still a common password. Don’t use it.

Letmein. We recommend that you use passphrases that are memorable. Just don’t use this one. It ranks high on several lists of the most-used passwords.

Monkey. This common word appears on many lists of popular passwords. It’s also too short. Make passwords at least eight characters—the longer the better.

Your pet’s name. While you’re at it, don’t use any passwords that can be easily guessed, such as the name of your spouse or partner, your nickname, birth date, address, or driver's license number.

12345678. Avoid this and other sequences or repeated characters such as 222222, abcdefg, or adjacent letters on your keyboard (such as qwerty).

Bonus password tips

Don’t use the same password for multiple sites. Cybercriminals can steal passwords from websites that have poor security and then use those same passwords to target more secure environments, such as banking websites.